Weightmans LLP has announced today that it is joining the University of Manchester’s Law & Technology Initiative, a unique business-university collaboration to develop research and teaching focused on innovation and the application of new technologies in the legal services sector.
The Law & Technology Initiative at The University of Manchester is bringing together legal services firms with academics across the University’s Alliance Manchester Business School and Schools of Law and Computer Science. The Initiative was launched in September and is the first research collaboration of its type in the UK to draw on business and academic expertise in this way. Weightmans joins fellow legal services firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and DWF Ventures.
The Initiative will examine a range of technology-related issues critical to the future of the legal services sector including, future skills, skill mixes and training needs; future industry structure and business models in the legal services sector; how law firms and their clients can rapidly and effectively adopt new technologies; and developing, evaluating and integrating technologies to deliver end to end innovation.
Stuart Whittle, Director of Business Services and Innovation at Weightmans said:
“The evolving professional services landscape and developments in technology have given us the opportunity to create new approaches to our work, which offer greater efficiency and accuracy both for our business and our clients. Our innovation strategy is grounded in academic theory, which is why it is so important for us to continue to invest in collaborations such as the Manchester Law & Technology Initiative.
“The University of Manchester is a highly-respected institution, which, like us, is seeking to push the boundaries and deliver new ways of working which will not just equip us for the future of legal services, but allow us to shape it. This is an exciting time and we are looking forward to working closely with the Initiative in the coming months.”
Andrew James, Professor of Innovation Management & Policy at Alliance Manchester Business School and one of the key University of Manchester academics leading the new initiative, said:
“I am delighted that Weightmans are joining the growing number of legal services firms engaged in this path-breaking Initiative. It is intended that the Initiative becomes a platform for innovation and a voice of recognised expertise in LegalTech. The University has a strong reputation of collaborative research with industry partners, with more UK businesses working with us than any other UK higher education institution. By combining our research expertise with the business challenges posed by our partners, we hope this work will generate novel insights into the digital transformation of legal services provision.”
